Vehicle bodies of vehicles such as automobiles include right and left front side frames disposed on right and left sides of front parts of the vehicle bodies and extending in a front-and-rear direction of the vehicle bodies. In recent years, structures of the front parts of the vehicle bodies have been developed to distribute to front pillars collision energies applied to the front side frames from front sides of the vehicle bodies, as disclosed in JP-A-2003-182633, so as to reduce burdens to be borne by rear end portions of the front side frames.
FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B hereof show a right half of a front part of a conventional vehicle body 100 shown in JP-A-2003-182633. The vehicle body 100 includes right and left front side frames 101 disposed on right and left sides of a front part thereof, respectively, and extending in a front-and-rear direction of the vehicle body 100, and right and left front upper members 102 disposed transversely outwardly of and above the right and left front side frames 101, respectively, and extending in the front-and-rear direction of the vehicle body 100. The right and left front upper members 102 have rear end portions joined to right and left front pillars 103, respectively. A right front damper housing 104 extends between the right front side frame 101 and the right front upper member 102. Similarly, a left front damper housing (not shown) extends between the left front side frame and the left front upper member. The right front side frame 101 is joined to the right front damper housing 104 at a light joining portion 105. A right gusset 106 extends rearwardly upwardly from the right joining portion 105 along the right front damper housing 104. The right gusset 106 has a rear end portion 107 joined to a rear end portion 108 of the right front upper member 102. Similarly, the left front side frame is joined to the left front upper member at a left joining portion (not shown). A left gusset (not shown) extends rearwardly upwardly from the left joining portion along the left front damper housing and has a rear end portion (not shown) joined to a rear end portion of the left front upper member.
The right and left gussets are curved along the right and left damper housings 104, respectively, for reinforcing the right and left damper housings 104. A collision energy E20 applied to the front side frame 101 from a front side of the vehicle body is divided into a collision energy E21 to be transmitted to the rear end portion 109 of the front side frame 101, and a collision energy E22 to be transmitted to the front pillar 103 through the gusset 106 and the front upper member 102. As a result, the collision energy E21 to be transmitted to the rear end portion 109 of the front side frame 101 can become small.
For the conventional vehicle body 100, the front damper housing 104 can be reinforced while the collision energy E20 can be distributed to the front pillar 103. However, because the gusset 106 serving to distribute the collision energy E20 applied to the front side frame from the front side of the vehicle body 100 has the curved configuration, distribution of the collision energy to the front pillar 103 is less efficiently effected.
The front part of the vehicle body 100 is partitioned by a dashboard (not shown) into an engine compartment 111 defined forwardly of the dashboard and a passenger compartment 112 defined rearwardly of the dashboard. In recent years, vehicles tend to have enlarged passenger compartments for providing passengers with comfortableness. To enlarge the passenger compartment, the dashboard should be shifted as forwardly as possible. Therefore, a space between the damper housings 104 and the dashboard is inevitably made very small if the passenger compartment 112 is enlarged. Where only a small or no space is formed between the damper housings and the dashboard, the gussets can not be provided therebetween.